Illinois State Police on Wednesday morning captured an inmate who escaped from a southern Illinois prison on Tuesday afternoon, Illinois Department of Corrections officials said.
Marcus Battice, 21, was taken into custody without incident at about 7:30 a.m. on foot along Interstate 70 about 3 1/2 miles from Vandalia Correctional Center, IDOC spokesman Tom Shaer said.
Battice got over the fence at the Vandalia facility about 2 p.m. on Tuesday, officials said. Vandalia is about 70 miles northeast of St. Louis.
He was serving a four-year sentence for unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle in Cook County. He was scheduled for release Jan. 18, 2015 and was classified as a “very low” escape risk.
“Escapes anywhere in the U.S. by minimum-security, low-escape-risk inmates with so little time remaining until parole are very, very rare,” the IDOC said in a statement.
Police said Battice has been incarcerated before, graduating from the IDOC Boot Camp after a burglary charge.
Battice was last seen wearing a blue shirt, dark pants issued by the prison. He was also wearing white tennis shoes.
